What/who is in my house??

suggiDecember 14, 2008

I had professional asbestos tile removal and a week later found a dead mouse in the basement behind my air purifier (discovered it because of the smell down there). Hubby foamed up every nook and cranny then.

Last week I noticed some "helicopter" seeds from the maple tree in the corner on the ledge that is halfway up the wall. I cleaned them up and today found more of them in the same spot. Can not figure out what would bring in these "helicopter" seeds and where whatever it is could be getting in. Could anyone tell me what animal/rodent would carry in these rather large seeds as I would like to know what I am dealing with. I have not seen any signs other than that in the basement nor upstairs. I imagine if it were upstairs there would be some sign like something chewed up or something. I no longer have a cat as hubby developed asthma so daughter is the new owner so I can't sic the cat on whatever it is. Hope you can let me know what it could be and what I should do as I don't want a family in nor do I want it upstairs and there is a small space under the door to the basement.

I forgot to mention that I can not put out a mouse trap and I did and then I had pavement ants come in and they were all over the peanut in the trap - and this is winter time in MA....I think with the weather going from cold to warm the ground is not frozen and they live under my brick patio and somehow they found a way in also. I haven't really seen them since I got rid of the mouse trap and peanut.

Update - Hubby found millions of those seeds on the upper ledge and I guess they were falling down when whatever walks around up there. He can't get in there with all the wires and sewer pipe and large electrical cable to the outside for the generator. He looked outside and everything seems sealed well and inside is blown in insulation and the yellow fiber kind and he just can't see anything. The asbestos guys are coming back tomorrow to finish putting up the paneling and I had asked them to fog the basement as they also do mold and bacteria cleanup and I don't know if there is any pee, etc. around but now I am afraid to as it is awful stuff and it will get on the seeds and then will the whatever animal not want to eat them and go looking for food elsewhere in the house????

Suggie, I have never known a mouse to hoard tree seeds like that. You are finding the entire "helicopter" and not just the seed. I wonder if what you have isn't a member of the squirrel family. Mice wouldn't bring in "millions" of complete Maple (helicopter) seeds and hoard them in the walls.

You are finding the helicopters falling out of the wall in the basement? Have you checked the attic?

For the mouse in the basement, I live in the middle of farm land. Mice laugh at spray foam, they chew it away and spit it out. Tell hubby to use exterior door and window caulk on exterior holes. The mice get bored trying to chew through it and move on to the easier access at the neighbors house.

The mouse poison we use is Just One Bite. It is the best on the market I think. Also when we got tired smelling dead mice we found out that they electronic mice things keeps them from even wanting to live in our house. We even put one in our garage, and guess what?? They don't want to live there anymore. We are mouse free after buying those things. We bought them at Lowes. I can't remember the name brand but they only had one brand. They are kind of expensive, but worth every penny!!